Archive for September, 2009

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Bastrop County sets 2009-10 property tax rate

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop County’s property tax rate for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 will be 61.92 cents per $100 of value, unchanged from the 2008-09 tax year, county commissioners agreed Monday.

The total tax rate includes taxes for general government operations, debt payments and road and bridge operations.

At separate hearings Monday on the proposed tax rate and the county’s revenue and spending plan for the coming budget year, no one from the public offered comments.

Property owners in Bastrop County should receive tax bills for the year soon after Oct. 1, according to officials.

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Bastrop County animal control gets overhaul

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–At a meeting today, Bastrop County commissioners approved the transfer of the county’s animal control authority and operations to the sheriff’s department,

Betty Wade, who has been the department’s only director since the operation was created a decade ago, will assist in the transition, effective Oct. 1, said Pct. 4 Commissioner Lee Dildy. Wade will move to a new county position, said Dildy.

Sheriff Terry Pickering said the animal control function will be under the direction of Troy Walters, most recently a jail supervisor who has prior experience in animal control and welfare operations. Walters will report to Sheriff’s Department Captain Joey Dzienowski, who also heads the department’s criminal investigation section, said Pickering.

The sheriff said county residents should expect an improved level of responsiveness from the animal control operation and “different hours for the adoption of animals,” including weekend and evening hours. He did not elaborate.

Pickering said he expects jail inmates to provide more routine labor at the animal shelter in maintenance, feeding and other routine tasks.

Dildy said Wade will take on a new job to work with Cedar Creek area residents and organizations interested in opening and operating the new county park next door to Cedar Creek Elementary School.

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BEDC budget plan sparks new city council clash

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–A tone of concord set last week during a joint meeting of the Bastrop City Council and the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. board was shattered Sept. 22 as the city council debated a 2010 spending plan for the city’s economic development arm.

At the Sept. 15 meeting, council members indicated they favored a city budget plan which would tap some $200,00 from BEDC sales tax income to support parks operations, thereby freeing other city funds for street repairs and other costs. During the council workshop that night, the BEDC board convened a special session and unanimously approved amending its annual budget proposal to include the added $200,000 transfer to city coffers.

At the time some council members lauded the evident spirit of cooperation between the council and BEDC board to meet long term needs of the city and its residents.

When Mayor Terry Orr called the council meeting to order Sept,. 22, the BEDC budget (as amended Sept,. 15) was on the council’s consent agenda, a list of supposedly uncontroversial proposed actions. But Council Member Julie Hart called for the BEDC item to be set aside for separate discussion.

When the topic came to the floor for consideration, BEDC board president Gary Guiterrez addressed Hart directly. “What’s the debate?” he asked.

As she has done previously, Hart urged a delay in any approval of a
BEDC plan for extending roadways in the Bastrop Business & Industrial Park to make new lots available for potential tenants. Again she suggested the money might better be spent on developing new water sources for the city. She urged the council to “table the issue for a few months.”

Previous discussions of the topic suggest city voters would have to approve diversion of economic development sales tax revenues for water development at an election no earlier than May. No one addressed the industrial park road extension or water development issues during the Sept. 15 workshop when both the city council and BEDC board were present.

Guiterrez argued Tuesday that BEDC could fund both industrial park street extensions and new water wells in the future, if voters approve. “There’s going to be money there” for such projects, Guiterrez told Hart. “You’re just holding us (BEDC) up on doing our job” to attract new employers to the city and encourage business expansions.

Hart said she was “incredibly disappointed” after Guiterrez hinted he might urge the BEDC board to propose a new 2010 spending plan which did not include any funding for city parks operations or planned improvements to Chestnut Street beginning in October.

Council Members Joe Beal and Ken Kesselus called a halt to the debate which was turning acrimonious. “I’m uncomfortable with the way this discussion is moving here,” said Beal as he moved approval of the proposed BEDC budget. Any BEDC move to spend money for industrial park road extensions must come back to the council for final approval, whatever the budget includes, said Beal. “We will see it another time,” he added.

Kesselus said he had been encouraged by a spirit of partnership exhibited during the Sept. 15 council budget workshop and urged proceeding in that vein.
Council Member Kay Garcia McAnally said she has “nothing against” industrial park road extension plans, but she objected to “the way it was presented tonight.”

The council approved the proposed BEDC budget on a 3-2 vote with Hart and McAnally voting against the motion.

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Bastrop council holds tax rate steady

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–The city council approved a new budget for fiscal year 2010 Tuesday without controversy, though it reserved some potentially divisive decisions until later in the year. The property tax rate of 55.4 cents per $100 value remains unchanged from this year.

The revenue and spending plan sets aside $125,000 for street repair and maintenance work, almost double the amount available in the 2009 budget. It also leaves $135,000 in a contingency fund to be allocated later.

The anticipated revenue includes an additional $200,000 to support park operations agreed to Sept. 15 by the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. board, a decision affirmed Sept. 21 at the regular BEDC meeting for the month.

Bastrop City Manager Mike Talbot promised a mid-year budget review in March. He hopes by then to be able to recommend hiring a city information technology director to work on the city’s antiquated internal and external electronic communications systems, he said in interviews this week.

The city’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

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Event planners promise easier access to Friday game

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–High school football fans who plan to catch the Bastrop-Pflugerville game Friday at Bastrop’s new 8,000-seat stadium on Texas 21 west of town should plan to head out a little earlier, school officials said this week. At the same time they vowed to improve stadium operations to get drivers off the highway more quickly, send them to parking areas with more dispatch and provide better services at ticket booths, concession stands and related amenities.

When the stadium opened for its first event Sept. 4, the game traffic and crowd–estimated at more than 6,500–were plagued by circumstances which backed up traffic along Texas 71 for miles near game time and left some fans stuck in parking lots for up to two hours trying to head home afterward.

Traffic was especially heavy that evening, perhaps because the event fell on a holiday weekend–the Friday before Labor Day. It was also a stormy night–rain and lightning forced the game to be canceled before halftime. And most folks had never been to the stadium before, making the site unfamiliar.

Henry Gideon, director of operations for the Bastrop school district, said parking arrangements have been tweaked to get autos off the highway more quickly before game time and to ease the flow away from the stadium afterward. Added staff and volunteers will be on hand to help direct the flow, he said.

Deputies with the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Department will help control traffic from Texas 21 to and from the new stadium.

Kick-off time is 7:30 p.m.

The Texas Department of Transportation is constructing turn lanes on Texas 21 to help move traffic to and from the stadium, but that work will not be completed until about mid October. School officials paid TxDOT $600,000 to add the stadium turn lanes in 2007, but the work did not begin until after the Sept. 4 game.

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Bastrop mayor packs new punch

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Earlier this month Mayor Terry Orr added a new title to his already formidable resume: a black belt in karate.

Orr, 71, said this week he passed the test “about two weeks ago” after studying for four years with karate master Ron Lindsey of Bastrop. “I was tickled to death,” said Orr.

Lindsey is officially retired after years of service as the agricultural extension agent for Bastrop County. But he remains active as a teacher of a special form of karate developed on the Japanese island of Okinawa where he was stationed during military service following his graduation from Texas A&M University. (Orr is also an Aggie.) One of the deiscipline’s special features is the use of ordinary household and farm tools as self-defense weapons.

Learning of the mayor’s new distinction, a friend recently asked him, “Does that mean you can beat me up now?” The answer, Orr said with a laugh, was “No, but I can probably kill you.”

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City buys key Main Street property in Bastrop

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–A unique property in downtown Bastrop with frontage on both Main and Water Street has been purchased for $235,000 by the city. The site is valuable both for additional downtown parking and utility easements, according to city officials.

The purchase was confirmed today both by Mayor Terry Orr and City Manager Mike Talbot, who said the transaction closed 10 days ago.

The Main Street frontage, formerly home to the Texas Merchantile crafts and antiques consignment mall in the 900 block, was destroyed almost a decade ago by a fire of unknown origin. In 2003 city voters authorized bond money to buy rights of way to clear up disputed easements and public access issues from Water Street to downtown properties fronting on the 900 block of Main and the 700 block of Chestnut Street.

The purchase may add additional downtown parking spaces, said Orr. Talbot said the acquisition will help clear up utility right of way issues for electric power lines as well as water, sewer and drainage needs in the heart of downtown.

Part of the property fronting on Main Street, between Baxters on Main Street restaurant and a private residence, may be available for commercial redevelopment in the future, according to officials.

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Bastrop area rail plans to be discussed Friday

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–A local transportation study group is set to hear Friday from state officials looking into the feasibility of moving heavy rail freight traffic away from cities in the area, including Bastrop and possibly Elgin.

For more than a year planners from the Texas Department of Transportation, local officials and area residents have mostly focused on needed highway improvements. Now their attention has turned to the future of rail traffic through the area.

The Friday rail session is slated for 10 a.m. in the Commissioners Courtroom on the second floor of the Courthouse Annex at 804 Pecan St. in Bastrop. The public is invited and a quorum of county commissioners may attend the session, said Gayle Wilhelm, an assistant to Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald.

The possibility of moving heavy rail traffic off the 1886 route through Bastrop’s old town core has raised questions about what property might be affected by a new rail alignment, possibly between the present route of FM 20 and Texas 304, areas now slated for significant commercial and residential development.

Elgin officials are also interested in regional rail plans because of the potential to convert a freight rail line from Austin to Elgin and Giddings for use by commuter trains at some time in the future.

The present rail line through Bastrop sends trains laden with coal, gravel, industrial chemicals and other agricultural and manufactured goods between the main high school campus and the West Campus or 9th Grade Center on Hill Street on a daily basis. The Union Pacific line through Bastrop is part of a main line between the Midwest and Mountain West and the port at Houston on the Gulf Coast.

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Bastrop High School student charged with arson

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–An arson charge was lodged against a Bastrop High School student last week in connection with a wildfire which scorched 7.5 acres near the Hunters Crossing subdivision Sept. 2.

Acting on a tip last week, Bastrop police interviewed Michael James McGary, 17, after which he was jailed in connection with the blaze, said Bastrop Police Chief David Board. McGary was released Sept. 19 after posting $20,000 bail, according to jail records.

Earlier this year a 10-year-old was charged with arson in connection with a July 23 wildfire which burned some 40 acres beside the Hunters Crossing subdivision.

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Bastrop City Council takes new budget approach

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–During a workshop session Tuesday, the Bastrop City Council agreed in principle to lean more on the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. in the coming year and less on Bastrop Power & Light, the city-owned electric utility. At the same time the council rejected a suggestion to raise the property tax rate for the 2009-10 budget year beyond the 2009 rate of 55.4 cents per $100 of value.

The BEDC board, which convened a special meeting Sept. 15 during the council workshop, agreed to target an additional $200,000 to city coffers during the fiscal year which begins Oct. 1. BEDC is already slated to support some parks operations and part of the city’s Main Street Program.

The new BEDC cash infusion will allow the city to divert other funds to boost different operations, including street maintenance, said Bastrop City Manager Mike Talbot. The same move will allow the city to cut its cash subsidy from Bastrop Power & Light to $675,000 in the year ahead, down from $900,000 in FY 2009. Previous budget drafts from Talbot had already trimmed the BP&L transfer to $750,000. Tuesday’s action allows that figure to fall to $675,000 in FY 2010, said Talbot.

The city manager said the new approach will also allow the city to target $100,000 for street maintenance in the new budget year. A previous spending plan capped street expenses at $30,000 for the year.

The remainder of the $200,000 expected from BEDC will be held in a contingency fund which the council can allocate later in the fiscal year, said Talbot.

BEDC board president Gary Guiterrez said the economic development arm of the city can easily afford to boost support of city functions, in part because planned improvements on Chestnut Street, beginning later this year, will cost far less than planned a year ago.

Council members said they don’t want to make a yearly habit of dipping so deeply into BEDC funds to make ends meet.

Talbot said the changes adopted this week don’t change many key features of the city’s spending plans for the upcoming year–no staff additions, despite rising service demands, almost no new capital equipment ( two new police cars), and pay plan adjustments of only 1 percent plus additional longevity pay. He also called for a thorough review of the new year’s budget performance in March, half way through the fiscal year, because expected income and spending needs remain “very tight,” with little leeway for unanticipated changes or developments.

The council is slated for a final budget vote on Sept. 22. The BEDC board will meet Sept. 21 for a final review of its new budget proposal for the coming year.

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